parishioners claimed assistance from the
Chapter, and in which the Chapter more
positively than politely refused to render assistance,
led to angry disputes between active
churchwardens, and vicars who had little
interest in their parishes. Complaints respecting
the neglected condition of the streets, and
respecting the character of their inhabitants
immediately in the neighbourhood of the
Cathedral, led to sarcastic remarks in popular
journals. People began to talk about Church
Reform, and the Chapter of St. Rochford,
in disagreeable connection. The abuses were,
nevertheless, not sufficiently individual in
their tendency to be readily tangible; nor
was there any offence so glaring as to
compromise a party of men, whose position and
character in society, and whose known abilities,
generally placed them beyond the reach of
reproach.

At length, however, came an awkward
event, with which the tranquil security of the
St. Rochford Chapter might fairly be
considered at an end. The head-master of the
foundation school died, and a successor to his
duties and emoluments was found without
much difficulty.

At first, everything went on admirably.
Mr. Hardhead was an excellent scholar, a
firm, but gentlemanly disciplinarian, and took
an enthusiastic interest in his occupation.
Two or three promising boys got open scholarships
in colleges of high standing; and, to do
the Dean and Chapter justice, they evinced a
kindly disposition towards the deserving
scholars, and rendered much substantial
assistance towards their future career. But
the Rev. Adolphus Hardhead was not merely
a scholar and a schoolmaster. He had fought
his way against disadvantages, had gained
moderate independence by the fruits of early
exertions and constant, but by no means
sordid, economy; and, while disinterested
enough to undervalue abundance, was too
wise not to know the value of money. He
was an undoubted financialist, and never gave
a farthing without doing real good, because
he always ascertained the purpose and
probable effect of his charity beforehand. While
he cautiously shunned the idle and
undeserving, he would work like a slave, with and
for those who would work for themselves; he
would smooth the way for those who had in
the first instance been their own pioneers, and
would help a man who had once been successful,
to attain a yet greater success.

With such a disposition, it was not
unnatural that the financial state of the school
should attract the notice of its new superintendent.
In the first place, the school-room
forms were rickety, the desks and "lockers"
generally hung from one hinge instead of two,
and the quantity of fancy drawings and inscriptions
with which the wainscoting was
decorated, displayed a greater amount of
eccentricity than was warranted by the reputation
hitherto achieved by the wits of the school.
The great bed-room, or, more classically
speaking, the "dormitory," was ill ventilated,
and the roof and gutters thoroughly out of
repair. A dining-room, said to have been
allotted to the chorister boys, was not to be
found at all, though some old people rather
thought the site was occupied by one of the
canons' stables. There was no separate
schoolmaster for the choristers, though one was
mentioned in the statutes; but a little careless
tuition was bestowed upon them by one
of the chaplains, who received an additional
forty pounds a year for his trouble.

The most serious mischief of all, was an
unaccountable increase in the incomes of the
Dean and Chapter, and a most extraordinary
stagnation and stand-still in the funds allotted
to the scholars. As to the "poor boys"
mentioned in the statute, they appeared to have
no existence. Nevertheless, Mr. Hardhead
well knew that, as the funds were derived
from a common source, the circumstances
which had benefited and increased the incomes
of one party, ought to have had a
proportionate influence upon all alike. Day after
day did he spend in the cathedral library,
raking up dry details respecting estates,
mortgages, rentals, and endowments. Volume after
volume of the driest and most tedious details
did this indefatigable searcher after truth
turn over, common-place, transcribe, and
compare. Masses of acts of parliament, quires of
contradictions, and folios of opinions, failed
even to tire his assiduity. Journey after
journey did he take, authority upon authority
did he consult, opinion upon opinion did he
take, until he had made out what he
considered a sufficiently clear case. This found,
he was too practical to remain long without
coming to the matter at once. Too wise to
ask for all at once, Mr. Hardhead began with
complaints relative to the state of the schoolhouse.
He met with the answer he had
expected. The Dean and Chapter expressed
their willingness to head a subscription towards
the necessary repairs, but cautiously avoided
allowing that there was any claim which
they were bound to recognise. This was a
bad beginning, and the Head Master could
clearly perceive that even this moderate
demand had stirred up a considerable amount
of ill-will and vexation.

But, when a letter, drawn up with legal
minuteness, and displaying a most disagreeable
knowledge of disagreeable facts, was laid
before the Chapter, calling upon them to
augment sundry scholarships, which had remained
at their original almost nothingness, to restore
the foundation provided for the education of
"poor boys," and to refund a large sum of
money which had evidently been distributed
in a manner contrary to the letter or spirit of
the founder's will, they were perfectly overcome
with astonishment at the audacity of
their Head Master.

The Reverend Blair Vorax nodded distantly
to the Reverend Mr. Hardhead the next morning,